ABSTRACT
Drawing on both international and New Zealand examples, this chapter analyses the ways in which church attitudes to money and entrepreneurship have changed. It identifies the churches as significant owners of property, and the varied attitudes within the churches towards entrepreneurs. While there is idealisation of poverty in some parts of the church, Protestants and particularly Pentecostals have shown great respect towards entrepreneurs. So there is a huge range of outlooks from the Franciscans who as an order were not supposed to own any property to those who believe the Prosperity Gospel. Belief and behaviour thus converge, but it is not always clear which is the stronger force.
